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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qezniWLWxEA Well, it happened. After years of clamoring to re-release it, Earthbound has been released for the Wii U's Virtual Console worldwide. It costs a little extra than a normal SNES game, but rest assured, it's worth it. What makes Earthbound so special? Well, it's...different. Most RPGs take place in fantastic settings. Earthbound takes place in the present day, where fire hydrants and paintings are enemies. Unlike most RPGs, Earthbound is funny. Earthbound is infused with pop culture references, from the Beatles to Mr. Baseball, a Tom Selleck movie you've probably never seen. You'll travel by bus, by spaceship, and by monster. I never played Earthbound until a few years ago, when I decided I wanted to play the Mother series back-to-back-to-back. Earthbound, the middle game, is the only one released in the United States and (now) Europe. It is also the most popular of the series, given Ness' appearance in the Super Smash Bros. series. Why did it take so long for Earthbound to get the Virtual Console treatment outside of Japan? Well, it wasn't music rights issues as previously thought. It turns out Nintendo just didn't know how many people wanted to play it. Seriously. Only until they found out about the petition that starman.net put out to re-release the game did they figure, "hey, maybe we should sell this game". Sales have proven strong since its release, only behind Donkey Kong, which literally costs 30 cents this month. I don't own a Wii U ($8 an hour does that to a person), but I would spend the for it if I had the chance. (Thanks to Rhinoceraptor for the rest of the OP) ----------------------------------- THREAD GUIDELINES
This game is old sure, but plenty of people still haven't played it. Let's do them a courtesy and discuss major plot points in the [spoiler] tags, alright? We all know which theory I'm talking about. THAT theory has been discussed to death whether you subscribe to it or not, and unless you have a really amazing insight into it, let's try not to bring it up. Because Saturn is the 6th planet. Q&A How much is it? It's only , and purchasing it will help to show the bigwigs at Nintendo of America that there's money to be made in this series again. You said it's a sequel, do I need to be familiar with the first game? Not really. The connections between games are more thematic than anything else. There is an overarching storyline, but it's like the story between Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker in that either can be played independently of the other. Besides, the first game, though good, is an '80s NES RPG and hasn't really aged well gameplay-wise. You Should really only play it as supplemental material if you really enjoyed the second and third games. Why is the kid in the hat not fighting? Sometimes Ness (as seen in Super Smash Bros.) gets homesick during the adventure and will randomly be unable to perform actions in battle. This can be frustrating since he will be your main healer and hitter for the bulk of the game. The only way to cure homesickness is to call your mother on the phone or visit her directly. (CaptainYesterday note: a baby chick also does the trick.) Which is better, the Yo-Yo, or the Slingshot? Neither, buy a baseball bat. --- VIDEOS! Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGOEMCG2Ll4 NOA promotion EarthBound at Comicon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uinZ2wn3qF4 A Nerd: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KT8ZDZf7gw0 MOTHER RESOURCES (Thanks, Rhinoceraptor from last year!) Official Site Travel Guide -- This came boxed with the original game! A lot of work was put into it, and it's more of a companion book than a strategy guide. NO LONGER SCRATCH 'N' SNIFF Starmen -- The Internet's biggest MOTHER fan community. Lots of fanart and such. EarthBound Central -- A blog or various EB related stuff. MOTHER 3 Translation Project -- A fantastic translation patch of MOTHER 3 to English. MOTHER 4 Fan Game Project -- A Fanmade Sequel Project, still under development. MUCH cooler than you would expect. MOTHER Remake Hack -- A recreation of Earthbound Zero using Earthbound's engine is also in the works. Edward Mass fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Jul 25, 2013 |
# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:24 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 08:45 |
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The music when you fight the Kraken (and a few battles later on) is literally one of the coolest songs in any game ever: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yxkc3C6sXlY
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:27 |
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I wanna play this on the 3DS.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:34 |
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I've started EarthBound many times on emulator, I always quit when I got to big-step, not because I wasn't enjoying it but because I felt guilty. I've never objected to playing a rom before but I felt like I was ruining my first play-through and I wanted to wait until I could actually pay for the game. I gotta say I'm glad I waited and I can absolutely see how this game garnered such a devoted fanbase. I'm up to the Mr Saturn village and I'm really enjoying exploring the world, especially enjoying the music- I've left it playing in the background quite a lot.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:35 |
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I said come in! posted:I wanna play this on the 3DS. I'm pretty much in the same boat. I would buy the absolute poo poo out of this but I don't have a wii-u.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:36 |
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Yeah same. Apparently it's not on the Wii either?
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:38 |
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victrix posted:Yeah same. Apparently it's not on the Wii either? Yeah I don't believe it's even on Wii. Nintendo is doing this in the hopes that it'll sell more Wii U consoles. Since the majority of software sales on the Wii U are SNES and N64 games, I see where they are coming from with this business strategy.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:39 |
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And no Wii-U price drop in sight. This, the winter of our discontent.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:41 |
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schizopol posted:And no Wii-U price drop in sight. Is there anything you get from playing this on Wii U instead of on an emulator? Honestly curious.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:44 |
I said come in! posted:I wanna play this on the 3DS. I would pay like 30 bucks to play this on the 3DS. I first played this game years ago, maybe in early middle school. It was an absolute trip, and it's one of the few games that I've been able to play again and again as the years go by. It's profound sense of style and humor planted one of the first seeds in my mind that blossomed into and understanding of how a story is about much more than the outline can describe, but that it's really about how you tell the story, and how you use your medium to your advantage. And truly, no other game will make you feel as homesick as this one will. abraham linksys posted:Is there anything you get from playing this on Wii U instead of on an emulator? Honestly curious.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:44 |
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abraham linksys posted:Is there anything you get from playing this on Wii U instead of on an emulator? Honestly curious. It was long ago "patched" but originally if you pirated a cartridge/rom of Earthbound, upon the check detecting this the game would run with like 4x the number of encounters and it would hard lock right before the final boss.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:45 |
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I can't really see anyone buying a wii U console just to play earthbound but I'll definitely be grabbing earthbound when they actually release some new worthwhile games for it. It's such a unique game it's always worth another play through.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:46 |
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Sales of the Wii U are not picking up either way, at least not until the fall lineup. Even then abraham linksys posted:Is there anything you get from playing this on Wii U instead of on an emulator? Honestly curious. I meant it more from a business perspective.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:46 |
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Neo Rasa posted:It was long ago "patched" but originally if you pirated a cartridge/rom of Earthbound, upon the check detecting this the game would run with like 4x the number of encounters and it would hard lock right before the final boss. AND wipeout your saves, as I recall. Pretty loving brutal antipiracy technique.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:47 |
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A bit off topic, but the amazing thing about SNES RPGs is that they have aged incredibly well. To this day I still play a number of them; Final Fantasy VI, Earthbound, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, Secret of Mana, and Secret of Evermore. I can play all of these from start to completion and feel like they hold up just as well as any modern day RPG.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:48 |
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I said come in! posted:I wanna play this on the 3DS. In Nintendo's infite wisdom, the 3DS screen is smaller than the resolution that the SNES output. I would have loving LOVED my 3DS if it had SNES virtual console support.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:48 |
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Neo Rasa posted:It was long ago "patched" but originally if you pirated a cartridge/rom of Earthbound, upon the check detecting this the game would run with like 4x the number of encounters and it would hard lock right before the final boss. If EarthBound had a selectable hard mode that was exactly that, I'd play it more.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:48 |
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I absolutely adore this game, even though I'll never understand the obsessiveness levels some people have with it. Definitely in my top 10 of all time though; probably my top 5 actually. Also, the ending to the game is easily the best ending I've ever experienced in my entire life playing video games. This includes the final boss battle, and the fact that the ending is (very minor "spoiler") a "playable" ending in which everyone you talk to, no matter where in the game, makes mention of the fact that you beat it. The last boss has the best music ever. Intentionally lovely 8 bit music to throw you off for when thrashing heavy-metal guitars kick in outta nowhere: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9gW3FS_brY edit: The Little Rascals sample is so blatant I still can't believe there were no legal issues, unless the show simply fell into public domain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLeWBWGY_Gg Chumbawumba4ever97 fucked around with this message at 01:57 on Jul 25, 2013 |
# ? Jul 25, 2013 01:53 |
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The music in EB is so good because they lifted the melodies and etc. from real songs without giving credit.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:00 |
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CaptainYesterday posted:Why did it take so long for Earthbound to get the Virtual Console treatment outside of Japan? Well, it wasn't music rights issues as previously thought. It turns out Nintendo just didn't know how many people wanted to play it. Seriously. Only until they found out about the petition that starman.net put out to re-release the game did they figure, "hey, maybe we should sell this game". Don't tell me they never ported Mother 3 for this reason.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:03 |
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I replay this game once a year. Man, there is a certain charm to this game. I think it's because the the nostalgia holds up over the year.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:05 |
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Miyamotos RGB NES posted:I absolutely adore this game, even though I'll never understand the obsessiveness levels some people have with it. Definitely in my top 10 of all time though; probably my top 5 actually. I'm sure a lot of it is nostalgia. For anyone who didn't play/know about the game back when it came out, the advertising techniques were something truly amazing and had 9 year old me absolutely engrossed well before the game came out. There were a lot of scratch and sniff stickers and smell is the sense most strongly linked to memory, I have fond memories of sniffing those stickers and daydreaming about the game. I seem to remember one smelling like pickles and I remember my brother getting really mad at me for scratching them because technically they came in *his* Nintendo Power subscription
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:07 |
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Internet Kraken posted:Don't tell me they never ported Mother 3 for this reason. Mother 3 is a GBA game that came out in 2006 and almost didn't come out then. Expecting to get Mother 3, especially after Earthbound didn't sell especially well was a pipe dream. (And it's even more of one now)
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:10 |
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Artix posted:Mother 3 is a GBA game that came out in 2006 and almost didn't come out then. Expecting to get Mother 3, especially after Earthbound didn't sell especially well was a pipe dream. (And it's even more of one now) Yeah, until we see GBA games on the 3DS Shop, there's no hope of a Nintendo-done localized Mother 3 release.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:23 |
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I wonder why it took so long. Was it legal trouble with the sampled music and Dali's Clock?
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:25 |
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Beaten by minutes... Oh well. I love EarthBound, so it's nice that there's a thread. Would you object to me putting the OP for my thread in this post, CaptainYesterday? Just for the sake of a bit more information about the game?
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:26 |
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There are a few GBA games on the virtual console, though they might be 3ds ambassador exclusives. Regardless, there's no way Nintendo is going to translate Mother 3 for VC, and little chance they're going to buy the translation.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:26 |
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Rhinoceraptor posted:Beaten by minutes... Sure! I'll add it in.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:27 |
For anyone wants some insight into how EarthBound was translated into English, I recently interviewed the game's chief translator. He actually ended up having to rewrite a lot of the text, so the game's writing isn't just from Itoi but from the localizer as well. EarthBound is one of my favorite games so it was really cool to get an opportunity to speak to someone who had such an impact on the game. http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/07/marcus-lindblom-earthbound/
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:28 |
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Thanks, I'm pretty proud of it, so it's nice to see it not go to waste! edit: It's here.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:29 |
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I should say I'm playing this for the first time as a European given it took 18 drat years to finally come out here and loving it so I don't think it can all be nostalgia. It's just stupidly hard and pretty tedious at the beginning before you're actually capable of killing more than 2 things before healing.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:29 |
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njsykora posted:I should say I'm playing this for the first time as a European given it took 18 drat years to finally come out here and loving it so I don't think it can all be nostalgia. It's just stupidly hard and pretty tedious at the beginning before you're actually capable of killing more than 2 things before healing. Crossposting from the other thread. We did it guys.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:34 |
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Are there any known changes for better or wosre to this new version? JSnake posted:For anyone wants some insight into how EarthBound was translated into English, I recently interviewed the game's chief translator. He actually ended up having to rewrite a lot of the text, so the game's writing isn't just from Itoi but from the localizer as well. EarthBound is one of my favorite games so it was really cool to get an opportunity to speak to someone who had such an impact on the game.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:38 |
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TheRationalRedditor posted:Are there any known changes for better or wosre to this new version? No epilepsy-educing flashes anymore.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:40 |
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CaptainYesterday posted:Why is the kid in the hat not fighting? I didn't even know this! I'm going to have to try this on my next playthrough! I appreciate you or putting my stuff in there. Think you could give me credit for my parts though? SwimmingSpider fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Jul 25, 2013 |
# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:46 |
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CaptainYesterday posted:
I have no idea what you're talking about, and I've played the hell out of Earthbound. Care to explain?
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:47 |
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I played it back in my childhood and loved it. When I seen it was available on the WiiU it was an instant purchase. I was afraid it would not hold up after all these years, but after a few hours of playing it I am back in love again. Great game and lets hope we see more great revivals.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:49 |
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The game asked me what my favorite food was, "quesadilla" didn't fit, neither did "chicken wings", so I wasn't able to continue past that screen
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:50 |
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Rhinoceraptor posted:I didn't even know this! I'm going to have to try this on my next playthrough! You are doubly welcome. Adam Bowen posted:I have no idea what you're talking about, and I've played the hell out of Earthbound. Care to explain? Search 'Giygas theory'.
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:50 |
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# ? May 13, 2024 08:45 |
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Adam Bowen posted:I have no idea what you're talking about, and I've played the hell out of Earthbound. Care to explain?
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# ? Jul 25, 2013 02:53 |